After staging their dharna for 109 days, the Lepcha para teachers
finally packs up from triangular park today as they received a letter
from the Secretary to the Government of West Bengal-School Education
Department, assuring an interim arrangement to join Lepcha medium
schools under the control of Mayel Lyang Lepcha Development Board.

Speaking
to the journalists here, Peter Lepcha-one among the 46 para teachers
said that the West Bengal Government has solved their issue very wisely
and their dharna didn’t go in vain, ‘Mamta government has successfully
unlocked our problem of unemployment and we can now ignite the furnace
in our kitchens’ said Lepcha adding that they don’t have to show empty
vessels to anyone henceforth.

The GTA had filed a case in
Calcutta High Court regarding the legality of state government’s move to
appoint 46 para teachers across Darjeeling district on March 20th
therefore, until Court’s verdict, the Lepchas are arranged to teach in
different non-recognized Lepcha medium schools and Night schools run by
MLDP.

The aforementioned assurance letter, has said that the
remuneration of the said para teachers will be met from the end of Sarva
Shiksha Mission and has the approval of Minister-in-charge of School
education Department.

The salary of the para teachers can be
drawn in the end of August as the teachers will be joining schools
within a week, said a source through telephone this evening.

Meanwhile,
Hill TMC called an urgent press conference to congratulate and
appreciate the para-teacher’s patience of 109 days which didn’t go in
vain, ‘the GTA should learn something from these para-teachers for they
(GTA) never completes the task they start’ said Chawang Bhutia, a
secretary of hill TMC, adding that the case of para teachers could have
been easily settled within GTA, without knocking at the court’s door.

Later,
Bhupendra Lepcha, the District youth president of TMC also spoke to the
reporters citing the famous mantra ‘satyamev jayate’ ‘This interim
settlement is more of a permanent settlement and the future of those 46
para teachers are no more in darkness’ said Bhupendra Lepcha.